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April 15, 2000 _ April 21, 2001 _ April 20, 2002 _ March 15, 2003

AAIS 2002 Annual Meetings
Minutes of the Women’s Studies Caucus Meeting
(April 20, 2002)

The participants were offered a snack for a very small sum ($3.00) and the meeting began immediately at 12:00 noon. Eighteen people were present.

After approval of last year’s minutes, nominations were made to fill the position of Secretary of the Caucus and ballots were distributed.

The issue of dues being an important one in this period of transition from one AAIS Treasurer (Myriam Ruthenberg) to another (Carol Lazzaro-Weis), the members were told not to forget to contribute to the Caucus and—obviously—to the AAIS. A suggestion to apply for funds to the university that sponsors the yearly AAIS meetings seemed hardly realistic.

Giuliana Sanguinetti Katz and Paola Blelloch initiated the discussion of the two topics that were announced: the situation of women in our profession and the impact of Cultural Studies on Women’s Studies. A lively discussion followed. Some conclusions reached by the Caucus were:
1. Women’s salaries are still lagging behind those of men;
2. women who have reached a secure position must avoid playing the same power games that men have been playing;
3. it is very important for the institutions to formalize structures to support young women faculty (for instance, a mentoring program);
4. the existence and strength of a Women’s Studies program tend to provide a form of support for faculty women as well as for students.

The discussion of the second topic yielded some interesting comments. Paola Malpezzi Price told us about a course she team-taught on Italian and Japanese cultures, in a sort of East-West comparative pattern. Graziella Parati mentioned the volume Italian Cultural Studies that she co-edited, but agreed that there are no texts we can easily use in the classroom. La cultura italiana del 20º secolo is a book that some colleagues use in their courses. Angela Jeannet suggested that we should organize a team to work on a series of booklets on a variety of Italian cultural issues. The booklets, similar to the Italian “dispense,” could be purchased individually allowing teachers to select the sequence they individually prefer. The advantages of such a project would be flexibility, low cost, and variety of choices. The booklets could also be easily translated for courses on Italian culture taught in English. Whether or not they could also be on the web was a question we did not have the time to discuss at length.

The results of the ballotting showed that Irene Marchegiani Jones received 12 votes and Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio 4. The current Secretary and President did not vote. For the next two years (2002-2004), the President is Angela M. Jeannet (amtjeannet@earthlink.net) and the Secretary is Irene Marchegiani Jones (imarchjn@fea.net).

The session closed at approximately 1:30 p.m.

Angela M. Jeannet
(segretaria uscente)